Forbidden Love
by kratos lover1
Summary: This is the story of how the affair between Storm and Yuan came about. Takes place before To Be A Family Watch as Storm and Yuan's relationship blooms as they take on the last of the Desian leaders.
1. Chapter 1: A New Mission

Okay, well, here's the new story that I promised you guys I would get around to writing eventually. This is the story for everyone who enjoys the Storm and Yuan pairing. This is the story of how they came to fall in love. I know that everyone has wanted to know how it happened and now it's time for the story. Anyway, this story takes place between "Lost in the Storm" and "To Be A Family" So, if you want a reminder of what's going on in the beginning, I suggest checking out the end of "Lost in the Storm." Well, here's the first chapter and I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Tales of Symphonia, but if I ruled the world I would and I'd come out with a sequel for the game. I do own Storm though. She's my character, don't steal her, okay? If you're Namco and you want to use my character talk to me, and maybe we can come to some sort of agreement. Hehe...

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Chapter 1: A New Mission 

"Hey Zelos, Yuan's here. I have to go now," Storm called as she saw Yuan coming closer to their house. She was ready to finally get going on the new mission that the Renegades were going on. Magnius was the only real threat left from Cruxis and he was planning on using the Desians to regain control of Derris-Kharlan and revive Cruxis. Storm and Yuan wouldn't allow that, and Yuan had invited Storm along since she had been to several of the Desian bases quite a few times while she was growing up. She knew a lot about Magnius and his strategies. With both her and Yuan there was no way that Magnius would stand a chance.

When Zelos heard Storm yelling he made his way to the front of the house to say good-bye. He was a little depressed that she was leaving, but he knew that it would make her feel better to help end the problems from Cruxis. This would give her some closure for the things she'd done in the past, and he knew that this mission was important to her. He knew that she'd come back safely, she was in good hands.

There was a knock at the door and Storm opened it to greet Yuan who was ready to go. "Hello Storm, are you ready to get going?" he asked her. Zelos walked up behind her, and Yuan looked at him. "Hello Zelos," Yuan greeted him as Zelos nodded to the Renegade leader.

Storm turned around and hugged Zelos tightly as he returned the gesture as he wrapped his arms around her. "Good-bye Zelos, we'll be back before long. It shouldn't take too long to kick Magnius' butt," she assured him before he let her go.

"I'll miss you while you're gone Storm. Good-bye," he told her as he watched her walk out with Yuan. He closed the door and prepared for his time alone in the house. He sighed as he looked around the empty house, already missing her.

"So, where are we going first?" Storm asked Yuan right before they made their way to the exit. Yuan walked her outside of the city where she saw a Rheihard waiting for them.

"Hop on, we're going to the base first to pick up some men for the trip. There's no way that we're going up against his army by ourselves," he told her as he hopped on the Rheihard, motioning for her to hop on behind him. Storm followed him and hopped on the machine, sitting behind him as they rose off the ground.

As Storm rode on the Rheihard she watched the small towns and villages pass by underneath her. She was so excited to have this chance to help all the people below them. She would finally be able to atone for what she had done while in Cruxis. Maybe by doing this mission she would be able to gain the trust of her companions. That was what she wanted more than anything. This was also a good opportunity to work with Yuan. While she was in Cruxis she never really got to work with Yuan very often, the only exception being when he taught her to use elven magic. As she got older they even became more or less enemies, especially when she discovered that he was the leader of the Renegades. This was her chance to show that she really did want to get along with him.

"Well, here we are," Yuan announced as he landed the Rheihard inside one of the hangars of the base. Storm hopped off the Rheihard as he led her through the Flanoir base.

Storm shivered a little as she walked down the hall with him. Even though they were inside, it was still a lot colder inside than what she was used to. She had always hated the cold, and she could never understand why he had decided to put up a base on the ice continent. Yuan noticed her shivering and chuckled a little.

"I know that this isn't your favorite place in the world, but we'll be leaving soon enough," he told her as she glared at him.

"I just wanted to know why in the world you would want to have a base here?" she asked him as she sniffled a little. The cold ride on the Rheihard didn't help much as she felt a chill run through her.

"To keep people like you away from here. After a while you grow accustomed to the cold, but most people don't stick around long enough to allow that to happen. This way people stop searching for the base because they get cold," Yuan explained to her as he led her into his office.

"Uh, huh, well next time we're going to the Triet base. It's a lot warmer there," she informed him. She noticed that it was a bit warmer in his office and she sat down on a chair at one end of the room.

"Why don't you stay in here while I get the troops together?" he offered her. She stood and immediately walked towards the door. When she got there, she turned around to face him.

"No way, I want to come too. I can handle the cold a little longer," she informed him as he walked next to her.

"You're as stubborn as the rest of your family," Yuan said with a smirk on his face. He walked out of the room and Storm followed him as they went into a large room where the Renegade soldiers were lined up and ready to leave. There was a lot more of them than Storm was expecting. There were at least one hundred soldiers ready and waiting to begin the mission.

"There you are Storm, you and I have an army to face Magnius," Yuan told her.

"Well, let's not just stand here, let's get going," she announced, ready to get off the continent.

With her words the soldiers saluted her before all boarding the Rheihards two by two. Storm looked shocked at the reaction and Yuan laughed at her response.

"Did I do that?" Storm asked him.

"Well, you are in charge like me. They're going to listen to you," he told her. Storm smiled as she watched them all leaving.

"It's about time someone listened to me and got out of this place," she said as she walked over to their Rheihard. She stopped and looked over at Yuan. "Where are we going?" she asked him.

Yuan couldn't but smile at her. "We're heading towards Palmacosta," he told her as he walked up and joined her on the Rheihard as they took off to begin their mission.

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Well, that's the end of the first chapter. I know, not much action to begin with, but we'll get there. Anyway, tell me what you think and I hope that you enjoyed it. So now, I have a story about Storm and Zelos being written, and now a Storm and Yuan one. I hope that you read them both whether you prefer one over the other, if you like both of them, or if you don't like either one. Either way, I hope that you all give them a chance. Thanks for reading, don't forget to review. Oh, and I started a Yuan and Storm topic in my forum for Storm. If all the fans of this pairing want to go there you can discuss it. There's also a Storm and Zelos topic if you want to go there as well. 


	2. Chapter 2: Ideals

Okay, I wanted to get this story going. I'm sorry if it seems boring so far because there's not much going on, but this will actually have some action. It's funny to be writing these both at the same time because the relationships are different in their own little ways. Storm and Zelos is strangely enough Angst/Humor while Storm and Yuan is Angst/Drama because there is so much tension in the relationship. There is a lot of angst in both as usual for my writing. Anyway, hope you're enjoying. Thanks for the reviews.

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Chapter 2: Ideals

Storm and Yuan had the Renegades set up camp around the Palmacosta area. They were going to interrogate some of the citizens of the newly rebuilt city. They ordered a few soldiers to follow them in to help them out a bit. As they entered the city, Yuan looked over at Storm who was trying to take in as much of the city as possible. It didn't really look too much different than it had before it was destroyed, but she seemed obsessed with it nontheless.

"You seem a lot happier than you used to. Why are you so interested in this place?" he questioned her. Storm looked over at him with a confused look before finally realizing why he didn't understand her amazement.

"Oh, I've never been here before, but I've heard so much about it. The biggest city on the Sylverant side of Symphonia and it's gorgeous," she said as she stared up at the buildings. "It's like Meltokio except it has an older feel. I love it," she told him happily. Yuan looked at her, she definitely wasn't like she used to be with Cruxis. She was like she had been when she was younger, she was free to be herself. That's all he'd ever wanted for her.

"Well, you can look at the buildings, but I need to find who's in charge around here," Yuan said as he began to wander the streets in search of some friendly person that could guide them in the right direction.

Finally, Yuan picked out a nice looking couple who were walking through the streets with a small child who was out running in front of them. Yuan walked up to the man as Storm came up behind Yuan as she looked at the couple.

"Excuse me, but would you be able to show us where your mayor is?" he asked them.

"Oh, you mean General-Governor Neil?" the man asked him. Yuan wasn't too sure if that's who he was looking for, but it sounded like a good place to start at least. He nodded at the man. "He's over in that building in the square next to the church," the man told him as he pointed in the direction they needed to head in. Yuan thanked the man as the couple walked off.

"Well, I guess we talk to this guy to find out if he's seen or heard of Magnius in awhile," Storm stated as she began to walk the way the man pointed.

Yuan sighed as he watched her walk off. "Yeah, that was the plan," he whispered to himself. He couldn't believe how she was trying to take charge of something that was already being taken care of.

Storm walked into the square and stopped when she saw the church. She didn't really like the church in Meltokio either. For some reason they always reminded her of Cruxis even though Zelos had worked on reorganizing the churches. She still couldn't get that fear of Cruxis and the churches out of her mind. Yuan walked up behind her and looked at the church that she was staring at. He could tell that everything about her past still haunted and pained her. Was there more about her past that she hadn't even told him?

"Cruxis doesn't have any influence anymore, just Magnius and that's what we're going to stop," Yuan reassured her as he set a hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her trance. She looked back at him and gave him a smile to cover up any feelings she had.

"I was just looking at it, it's a pretty building," she lied to him. She didn't want him to figure out why she was so terrified of Cruxis.

"Here's the building we need to go in," Yuan said as he pointed to the building to the left of the church. Storm looked over and walked with him as they went inside, leaving the few soldiers they brought along outside.

"What can we do for you two?" a young woman asked as Yuan and Storm entered the building. She was sitting at a desk across the way and there were two guards present on either side of the doorway that they were entering.

"We're here to speak with General-Governor Neil," Yuan informed the woman. "We need to ask him a few questions," he added as a side note.

The woman looked at them for a few moments before she spoke up again. "May I tell him who's calling for him?" she asked them suspiciously. Yuan and Storm weren't sure if it was because they weren't from the area or if it was because they had been having troubles lately that was making the woman so nervous around them.

"My name is Yuan," Yuan stated kindly to the woman.

"I'm Storm Aurion, perhaps he's heard of my brother Lloyd?" she said before adding in Lloyd as a reference since she'd never actually met Neil before.

"I'll let him know," she said as she walked out of the room for a minute. Storm and Yuan stood around as they waited for Neil to show up. When he arrived in the room he looked at the two and immediately went over to Storm.

"You're the Storm Aurion that we've all heard about, the sister of Lloyd Irving Aurion. He helped save this town from Magnius a few years ago. Is there some way that I can help you?" he asked.

"Uh...," Storm was surprised by the overly kind greeting she had just received. She really didn't know what to say so Yuan decided to take over.

"We were wondering if you have heard anything about Magnius. We know that he's trying to start up another army of Desians,and we wondered if anyone has noticed any strange activity by his old ranch," he explained to him. Neil looked over to the half-elf and began to think a little about his questions.

"Well, there was some talk of a group of strangers wandering around there about a month ago, but no one has seen anyone since," Neil replied. Yuan looked over at Storm, and they both knew that someone had been up to something sneaking around there. They had a feeling that whoever was wandering around there was somehow connected to Magnius.

"Thank you so much for your help," Storm said as she shook his hand.

"I'd do anything for a relative of Lloyd's. We all still owe him so much here. If you need anything else be sure to come and speak with me," Neil told her. Storm and Yuan walked out as they decided that their next order of business was to investigate the old Desian Human Ranch in the area.

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Once they got back to camp for the night, Yuan decided to try and start a conversation with Storm. The two had been relatively quiet since they left her house, and he wanted to make sure she felt comfortable while on the mission. There were tents all over the fields outside of the city as they all gathered in groups to relax before heading to sleep. Storm and Yuan sat next to where each of their tents were pitched as they sat around a small fire.

Yuan looked over at Storm who was looking up at the night sky. "Storm, you seem so happy. You're a lot more confident in yourself than you were when you were with Cruxis," he told her.

She looked over at him and smiled, happy that he had actually noticed her change. She was happier, she couldn't hide that fact. "Yeah, Zelos really makes me happy. If it wasn't for him, Dad, and Lloyd I probably would have died fighting for Mithos' ideals. Now I'm fighting for my own. But...," Storm told him happily, but when she trailed off at the last statement he noticed the painful look in her eyes.

"But...?" he asked her. Was there something that she's been hiding.

She stared at the ground for a moment with that same look on her face before she looked back up at him with a smile. He could tell that it was fake, she kept trying to hide her feelings. "It was nothing," she said.

Yuan decided to poke around in her feelings a little more, he wanted to know what was bothering her. "So, what are your ideals?" he asked her. Storm looked shocked as he asked her that. She sat in thought for awhile before she answered very simply.

"I don't really know. I guess they're actually Lloyd's...," she said softly.

"Well, that's all right too. As long as you know what you want, even if it is because of someone else. As long as you know that it's right in your own heart, that's all that matters," he told her. Storm looked away from him for a moment, she still looked pained. He couldn't figure out was bothering her.

"Yeah," Storm agreed with a whisper. If only he knew that she was still fighting in her mind whose ideals she believed in. She believed Lloyd's, but she also found a lot of truth in Mithos'. Had she actually done the right thing? She couldn't tell him though, he had fought so hard to stop Mithos and his ideals.

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Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope it wasn't too bad. I know that there's not much going on, but wait until later when the action comes out. Of course, there'll be a lot of angsty romantic stuff going on in between. There relationship isn't quite as goofy as Storm and Zelos' so don't expect large amounts of humor here. Well, tell me what you all thought and review. You have no idea how important your opinions are to me. Thanks! 


	3. Chapter 3: The Plans

Okay, I think I'm going to work on this story today so I can get a little farther on it before going back to the Storm and Zelos one. Anyway, I hope that everyone is enjoying this so far. I also just put up a one-shot just now. It's called "The Rage Inside" so check it out. It is super angsty though. Okay, back to the story. Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: The Plans

Storm and Yuan took a few of their soldiers the next morning as they made their way to the abandoned Palmacosta Human Ranch. It was a still left demolished just as Lloyd and the others had left it a few years ago. It didn't seem like anyone had been there, but they searched around to see if they could find anything that looked suspicious.

Storm walked through the rubble as she sifted through what was left behind from the explosion that had originally brought the whole place down. Suddenly, she heard someone's feet moving to her right. She looked over and saw that neither Yuan nor any of the other soldiers were searching in that area. She walked around slowly to where she heard the noises. She stopped short of where it was coming from and pretended to search the ground once again, all the while listening for more clues on the sound's origins.

She heard more scuffling of feet closer to her. She saw a large heap of junk not too far from her, and she knew someone was trying to hide from them. Someone didn't want to be found and was trying to sneak away. Just when she heard the movement stop, she jumped behind the pile, pulling out her sword as she came down.

When she landed she saw a young man whose eyes were wide with fear. He was apparently terrified and shocked that she had found him. He tried to scramble away, but when she saw that he had something in his grasp she caught him and placed her sword at his throat to keep in still. She noticed that his ear were pointed and she got the feeling that he was working as a Desian.

"Are you all right over there?" Yuan yelled at Storm who had disappeared from his sight. She had made a little bit of noise, but not an extreme amount.

"I'm fine, but I think I found someone who wants to talk to us," Storm said as she made the man walk with her back up to where Yuan and the soldiers could see her. When she was within sight Yuan was apparently very impressed with her catch as he walked up with a blown away look on his face.

"Nice job Storm," he said as he smiled at Storm who gave a grin back to him. Yuan thn turned his attention to the man. "Are you working for Magnius and the Desians by chance? I don't know why else you'd be hanging around a place like this," he asked him before pointing out the obvious, almost challenging him to try and lie his way out of the situation.

"I'm not working for anyone but myself. I came here because I needed some cash and I thought the old man on the mountains would want something that I could find in here," he told them angrily.

Storm glanced more carefully at what he was holding and then looked around on the ground for a little bit. "I have a hard time believing that story," she told him. He looked up at her nervously before giving her a glare. "I mean, you rummage through all this and pass up all these precious metals and all this technology. This could all really bring in a lot of money if more people were brave enough to come and look through this place. I guess it's a good thing that everyone's too scared to even go near here or all of this would be gone already," she pointed out. "It seems strange to me that you would go for some of these papers that are relatively old and torn," she said as she motioned for a soldier to pull them away from the man.

The soldier did as she motioned for him to do and showed the papers to her. Storm looked over them briefly before realizing what he had. "Instead of all that stuff, you decide to make off with papers that have the plans on the Angelus Project," she said. The man looked absolutely stunned that she knew what he had. He didn't know how she came to know what the Angelus Project was, but he did know that she had just figured him out.

"So, are you planning on telling us where he is, or do you want us to end it all here for you?" Yuan asked him as he waited for the man's answer.

The man tried to struggle out of Storm's grip, but she held onto him tightly, pulling her sword closer to his throat and keeping him from breathing. "Breathing is an option for you at this point, and so is living," she warned him before the man slowly nodded his head in submission. Storm let up a bit and the man coughed a bit as he caught his breath.

"Fine...yes, I was working for Magnius. He's trying to revive Cruxis and he's hiding out at Kvar's old base," he told them. Storm looked as if she believed the story as she looked to Yuan who seemed to agree with her on it.

"Why does he want the plans for the Angelus Project?" Yuan interrogated him.

"He wants to create a powerful Cruxis crystal for himself so he can defeat the ones who defeated Lord Yggdrasil and Pronyma," he told them. Yuan looked down at the plans, understanding the importance in the plans. They had brought so much pain to so many people. There was Presea, Kratos, Lloyd, Anna, and Storm. Everyone had been so affected by the plans. The one thing he couldn't understand was why the plans were not at Kvar's ranch where Anna was, and why they were at Magnius' ranch instead.

"I guess that's good enough for me now. Don't think that you're safe from us. I feel relatively kind today and I'll let you go, but if you cross my path again you won't be so lucky," she warned him as the man ran off empty-handed.

"I wonder why Magnius didn't get the plans at Kvar's ranch since he's there?" Yuan asked Storm.

"My guess is that when we destroyed the ranch the plans were ruined completely. I Kvar and Magnius must have been relatively good friends if they shared the plans. I guess he thought that the plans from his base could still be intact," Storm pointed out. Yuan stood there looking at her, amazed with how well she had things thought out. Where on Symphonia did Lloyd get his brains, or rather lack of them?

"What should we do with the plans?" he asked her. Storm obviously had a lot of pain built up inside that revolved around the Angelus Project as she turned away from the rest of the group.

"Destroy them," she said simply and softly before walking back in the direction of the camp. Yuan watched her leave, wishing that she would talk more about how she was feeling. He wanted to help her with it, but he couldn't if she wouldn't talk to him. He had to find a way for her to learn to trust him.

Once they got back to where their group was waiting, they decided to get them all moving so they could get to the Asgard ranch before Magnius was able to abandon it and disappear again. The plan was to hide out in Luin for at least a day while the field troops stayed out and watched to see how many people the cardinal had with him. There they would be able to come up with a plan to stop him. As the group walked along towards the city Storm and Yuan began to have another conversation to pass the time.

"Thank you for getting rid of those plans," Storm told Yuan as she smiled softly at him.

"I know about the pain that it caused you and your family," Yuan said.

"Yeah, it's something that I wish would have been stopped before Mom...," Storm trailed off. She didn't really remember her mother too much, but thinking about her made her begin to well up.

Yuan looked down at her sadly. He remembered how Kratos had reacted when Anna had been killed. It was a rough time, and poor Storm didn't even understand what was going on. Yuan had watched her a lot during that time. Kratos was always too upset to be around her. Every time her father would look at her he would get very angry and depressed, she reminded him of his loss. Storm never understood what was going on, but she always cried thinking her father was mad at her. Yuan always tried his best to comfort the toddler, but she only wanted her mother or father, neither of which he was able to provide for her.

"Storm...," Yuan whispered softly as he looked at the emotional teen. She looked up at him, a bit surprised by the tenderness to his voice.

"Hmm?" she questioned as she looked up at him in confusion.

"I can't help but feel horrible for all the pain you've been through in your life. I can't help, but hope that things start going much better for you and that your future is brighter," he told her.

Storm smiled as she looked at him. "Thank you Yuan," she said. She wondered just how much about her painful past he knew about, there was no way that it could be as much as she had revealed to Zelos. Maybe one day she would be brave enough to tell Yuan and her father about everything they had missed while they were in Cruxis. For now though, she would trust that he knew plenty to know that her life wasn't all that great. She didn't want him to feel too bad for her, that's all she needed was more sympathy.

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Well, that's it for this chapter. There will be Magnius and a fight scene in either the next chapter or the one after it. I don't know. There will be some tension in Luin for sure. Wait until everyone finds out what over and Storm's reaction to it. Anyway, tell me what you think and please, please review. Thanks for reading. 


	4. Chapter 4: Discrimination

Okay, I think after this chapter I might update the other story. Anyway, I hope that everyone has been enjoying this story. I hope that it's answering some of the questions everyone might have had when this relationship comes up. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Oh, and I wouldn't expect too much updating until Monday because I have a very busy weekend planned. Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter 4: Discrimination in the New World

Storm was a little nervous about heading into Luin. After the group helped rebuild the city from the effects of its attack from the Desians, the citizens erected a statue in honor of Raine. Even with this act of kindness and appreciation Zelos once told Storm that they were all very racist in the city. They resented half-elves for what they did and it was told that half-elves could barely pass through the town, let alone live in it. It was a sad consequence from Kvar's actions, but maybe there was still some hope of making peace with the citizens. Either way Storm wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring in a whole army of half-elves that appeared to resemble the Desians so close to the town and the human ranch.

"We'll head into town to see if anyone has seen or heard anything about Magnius hanging around the ranch. The rest of you try to find out if anyone is there, and if there are people there find out how many," Yuan ordered his officers before going to Storm who was ready with the few soldiers she had picked out to follow them. They had the soldiers dress casually so they didn't scare off the villagers too much.

Storm walked up to a young woman who was walking through the square. She thought that she looked friendly enough as she came up to her.

"Excuse me, but may I ask you a few questions?" she asked softly as she gave her a friendly smile.

"Uh...I suppose it depends on the questions," the woman replied.

"Well, I was wondering about the ranch close by here. I was wondering if anyone has seen anyone wandering around there. We're going to try and get them out if there is someone there," Storm explained to her.

"Well, there has been rumors about more of those Desians going in and out of there, but it's just a rumor," she told her. "Is that it?" she asked nervously as she looked behind Storm.

"Yeah," Storm said with an almost confused look on her face. The woman then walked away in the away from Storm quickly. Storm turned around to find out what the woman became so nervous about, but she only saw Yuan coming up behind her.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Never mind, did you find out anything?" Yuan questioned her anxiously. Storm began to wonder if there was something that was worrying him.

"Well, it's been rumored that people have been going in and out of there lately. They say they look like Desians, but that it's just rumors," Storm relayed the information to him.

"Good, let's get back to the others and we can plan on how to get in there," Yuan told her.

"What is going on? Why are you acting so nervous suddenly?" she asked him finally when he tried to walk away.

Yuan stopped and came up to her closely. "Haven't you noticed how these people are acting around us? This can't be safe and I don't really want to start anything here," Yuan pointed out to her in a whisper. Storm looked around her and noticed all the stares that they were getting.

"Yeah...I suppose we can go," she agreed as she began to follow him out of the city.

"That's right, get out of here half-elves," a man's voice broke through the crowd. Storm stopped in her tracks. She spun around to find the source of the voice. Yuan and the soldiers were forced to stay behind with her and Yuan tried to grab her frantically before something broke out.

"Who said that?" she asked into the crowd.

"I did," a man answered as he stepped out. He seemed to be about middle-aged and he was most definitely human. He was a little taller than Storm and he was definitely fatter than her. She looked him up and down. "Your kind is not welcomed in this village," he pointed out to her.

"Yeah, and who came up with that rule?" she asked him threateningly.

The man looked Storm over before staring at her in amazement. "You're human!" he said with disbelief written all over his face.

"Uh...yeah and you are too," she said, pointing out the obvious.

"Why are you traveling with these half-elves?" he asked her in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I? Don't tell me it's because I'm human and I'm supposed to be better than they are," Storm asked him, almost daring him to tell her what he thought.

"They're just worthless maggots and they'll probably stab you in the back someday," the man told her, laughing a little at what he thought was lack of sense on her own part.

Storm glared at the man angrily. She was about to reach for her sword when Yuan grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. "Let's get out of here now Storm. Please don't start anything now," he told her as he attempted to move her.

"I'm not going anywhere until I sort this guy out," she whispered back to him. She took a step away from Yuan and towards the man. "These people are much better than you'll ever be. I'll stand with them no matter what," Storm told him. "I hate people like you who think they're better than everyone else. Why don't you crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of," Storm spat at him angrily. This obviously made the man very upset as he came closer to Storm.

Two men came up behind the very upset man and attempted to pull him back. The man pushed them off and looked at Yuan. "You'd better teach your girl her place before I teach it to her myself," he said. That was the final straw for Storm, she knew where her place was. Her place where she was, kicking this sorry human to the ground to teach him some manners.

Storm grabbed her sword and went to attack the man, but before she could reach him she was stopped by Yuan and the other soldiers as they held her back. She struggled against her as the man laughed at the sight.

"You wouldn't be laughing if I wasn't being held back. You'd be crying for your mom so fast," she called to him as Yuan dragged her out of the town.

* * *

"Why didn't you let me at him? He was being so rude to you and the others. I couldn't stand it, I wanted to fight him so badly, but you wouldn't let me. Why?" she asked him angrily once they were back to camp.

"Did you honestly want a huge fight to start in that town. You can't be fighting every human or elf who hates half-elves, we'd never get anything done," he told her.

Storm looked at Yuan. How could he be so fine with something like that? There was no way that Mithos would ever put up with something like that, but he was able to brush it off so easily.

"Didn't it hurt when he said those things?" Storm asked, she wanted to know if she was actually defending his feelings.

"Of course, but I don't resort to violence all the time," he told her angrily, he was still upset with how she had handled the situation.

"That's the only way I know how to do things. If someone makes me upset or gets the in the way you fight them," she told him. Yuan looked at her and realized that she was only taught to fight for Mithos and Cruxis. She didn't know how to really solve problems peacefully, but always had been taught to resort to violence. It was sad, but he supposed that he should feel good that she was willing to put herself in harm's way to defend his own feelings.

"I know that what you did back there was for me and the others and I appreciate it, but I don't want to see you picking fights with people like that anymore," he told her as he looked away from her.

Storm looked at him for a moment in amazement. She blushed a little when she realized that she had done all that for him, but then looked back down at the ground. "No problem..." she said sadly as she stared into their small fire. Tomorrow they would be heading to the ranch to take on Magnius. This was something that she knew she could handle. There was no diplomacy needed. Magnius would never listen to reasoning, it would resort to fighting and she was ready for it.

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Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you like it. I will be moving on to Could it Be Love? now so I'm leaving you on a psuedo-cliffie. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading, please review, and thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter. Thanks! 


	5. Chapter 5: Raid the Ranch

All right, its time to update this story. I left you right before there would be a raid, I'm surprised no one threatened me. Speaking of, where is everyone? Some of the reviewers just suddenly disappeared. I mean, a few of you I know that you're doing something or your internet isn't working, but where is everyone else. I was going through profiles the other day and saw some people that I haven't heard from in awhile and I do miss your reviews. Remember what you tell me is important. Actually, because of a review I decided to start this story not too long ago. So, remember that it is important. Also, I updated the forum for those of you who were waiting for me to reply. I kinda slacked off a little. Plus, there's a spot for those of you who like this pairing or Storm/Zelos. There are places to discuss either. Well, thanks for the reviews and I hope you all like this chapter.

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Chapter 5: Raid the Ranch

Storm didn't quite know what to expect as Yuan got his troops ready for the invasion. It was just dawn and they were all up and ready to go. They had to attack, and they had to be ready because his spies had told Yuan that there was a large number of Desians in the ranch. Storm had to admit, she was feeling a little nervous before the big battle. She did have to admit that she did feel a lot safer with Yuan leading the troops.

Storm grabbed her sword as she went to the front of the large with Yuan. She looked at him, trying to retain her stoic look, but it wasn't fooling him.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked him. He looked at the ranch before looking back at her.

"Well, we get in there and stop them and Magnius. If we can get rid of him we can stop his troops easier. If they don't have a leader things could possibly fall apart," he told her.

"I just want to get through his troops. I want to get to take of Magnius personally," Storm said with a new found determination. "I can't let him try the Angelus Project on someone else," she added as she looked to the ranch.

"I'll help you," Yuan said. Storm looked at him before she slowly smiled at him to show her appreciation. "I won't let you do it alone," he told her.

"Let's do this," she said as Yuan nodded his head before giving the command to his troops to begin the raid.

The troops all began to swiftly make their way to the ranch as they charged the area. There was one Desian keeping watch as he saw the group come out from behind the wooded area they were staying in. This guard ran inside the remains of the ranch as he went to warn the others of the attack.

"Sir, there is a group of troops heading this way. They're on the attack and they're led by Storm and Yuan," the soldier told Magnius as soon as she warned the others to defend the front lines. Magnius had a smirk form across his face as he looked at the soldier.

"Put our little plan into action," he ordered her. The soldier nodded as she ran off to regroup the troops to defend the ranch and bring down the Renegades. Once she was gone Magnius chuckled a bit to himself. "Looks like I didn't have to bring them to me, they came on their own. How convenient," he said cooly as he went to prepare for the battle.

Storm and the rest of the group were met by a large army of Desian soldiers at the remains of the ranch. This didn't stop them as they charged at them full force. Storm and Yuan tried their best to make their way through all the soldiers, trying to get closer to Magnius. They tried to leave the majority of the Desians to the rest of their soldiers. Unfortunately, they had to fight some of them as Magnius' soldiers came at them more often than they went after the others.

Storm ran up to one of the soldiers, she didn't need to completely defeat them, she just wanted to get past them. She had to find Magnius before she got too worn out. She had made her way into a small area that used to be part of the building. There were three tattered walls left of this wall and no ceiling. There was a small set of stairs that only went up so high, but if she could jump over the hole in the wall at the top she was sure she could get into what used to be the next room. She wondered if that was where Magnius was hiding. She ran up to where the few soldiers had gathered to attempt to stop. She stopped in her tracks when she heard someone laughing from up by the stairs.

Storm looked up and saw exactly who she was looking for. Yuan stopped what he was doing along with everyone from both sides of the fight. They all looked up at Magnius as he stood on top of the small ledge at the top of the small flight of stairs. He had a few soldiers standing with him and Storm was about ready to take care of him since he showed up for her.

"I see that you finally found me. That's good because you just saved me the trouble of finding you. The only problem is that the rest of your little group doesn't appear to be here," Magnius said as he chuckled a bit.

Storm had had enough of him and was ready to take care of him quickly. She revealed her wings and was about to fly towards him and above all of his soldiers that were protecting him. Suddenly, she heard the sound of bows being pulled back, ready to attack. She looked around her and she saw a few soldiers scattered on the broken walls around her. The few soldiers near Magnius on the top of the stairs also had bows pulled back.

"Now, now Storm, you need to make your way up here fairly. If you get to me from there I will fight you, but no wings. That goes for you too Yuan," he warned the both of him as Storm put her wings away angrily. She then went back to the soldiers that stood between her and Magnius. She was going to make it to him no matter who got in her way. She looked behind her quickly and saw that Yuan was right behind her, covering her back as he followed her to Magnius.

"Demon Fang!" Storm cried out as she unleashed the attack, knocking a few soldiers over as she jumped over them to keep moving forward. She the wind from a sword barely missing her as she looked to her side to see a soldier staring at her. This soldier looked determined to tear her to pieces. Storm jumped forward a little to avoid being sliced in half as the soldier raised his sword to her again. Suddenly, as the soldier came at her one more time, his sword was stopped in mid-air as it clashed with Yuan's own weapon. Storm looked back at Yuan in surprise as he held the soldier off.

"I can take care of this one no problem, you go and get to Magnius," he told her as Storm nodded quickly as she finally made it to the stairs. Unfortunately, the stairs were already full of other soldiers that were ready and waiting for her.

"Super Sonic Thrust," Storm called up as she swiftly blew past a few of the guards as shew finally made it to the top where Magnius was waiting for her. Storm glared at him as she got ready for the fight that was waiting for her. She did hope that Yuan would be joining her soon, she wasn't sure if she could handle the grand cardinal all by herself.

Magnius seemed to be more than ready to take on Storm as he pulled out his rather large sword and raised it to her. Storm had never faced Magnius before and seemed a bit surprised as he came at her.

"I'm gonna make you and your little friends pay for what they did to Cruxis. The half-elves were so close to their own glorious age, but you all ruined it. You will die for what you did you worthless piece of trash," Magnius yelled at her as he came at her swinging the large sword at her.

"Hell Axe!" he screamed as he brought his sword down in a fury of flames as Storm attempted to jump out of the way quickly, but she was burned on her arm as she moved away. The sword crashed into the ground, leaving a large indentation where it hit as well as a large mark where the flames had been.

"Hang on Storm, I'm coming!" Yuan called to her as he slashed at another soldier who attempted to keep him away from where the battle was taking place.

"Hunting Beast!" Storm yelled as she jumped into the air before crashing to the ground in front of Magnius and ramming into him as soon as she touched the ground. This sent Magnius sliding backwards.

While he was down and trying to recover himself Storm came up to him as she got ready to attack him with her sword to finish him off. Suddenly, she felt pain crashing into her back. She spun around and saw that the soldiers standing on the walls all had empty bows in hand. She reached behind her and felt one arrow in her back, but from the pain she was feeling and the number of archers she knew there was more than one. There were four archers on the wall and she figured that she had four arrows in her back. She stepped backwards as Magnius got up when she was attacked.

"Storm, hang on!" Yuan cried to her as he knocked the last of the soldiers out of the way as he ascended the stairs that separated the two of them.

Storm jumped back painfully as she attempted to dodge Magnius as he came at her with a new fury. He was so angry that he had allowed her to knock him to the ground. He whipped his sword at her multiple times, and she barely managed to get out of the way in time. Finally, the pain from her back caught up with her as she fell to one knee.

She wasn't about to give up too easily as Magnius brought his sword down on her. She raised her own sword in defense and attempted to save herself despite her condition. She didn't want to die there, and she especially didn't want to be killed by this man. She heard Yuan coming up behind her and she spun around and tried to get away from him while she was weakened.

"Get her out of here. We need to retreat," Yuan ordered the soldiers that had followed him up, they weren't completely up the stairs, but they sent the word out to the other soldiers. They had to get Yuan and Storm out before they abandoned the fight.

"Giving up already? I suppose you need to protect your little girlfriend. Word of advice though Yuan," Magnius began as he met weapons with him, "stick to your own kind," he finished as he pushed him backwards.

Storm was just behind Yuan attempting to get up, but when Yuan was pushed backwards by Magnius she was left exposed again. Magnius took full advantage of this as he sliced into her backwards causing her to cry out in pain. When he attacked her it caused her to lose all the strength she had left when the blood started pouring out of the new wound. Yuan saw the vicious attack and ordered some of his men to come out in front of him, his new priority was to get Storm to safety so she could be treated before it was too late for her. He picked her up as he carried her through the battle. He managed to gather up some soldiers to fend off the Desians that came at them as they made their way through the crowd.

"Hold on a little longer Storm. Don't you dare die on me," he told her as she stared at him before she blacked out completely.

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Well, I'll leave you with that. I'm evil I know. Sorry... Anyway, please review and if you're someone who maybe used to review and you haven't in awhile please review. I worry that something either happened to you or that I did something with the story that you didn't like. Anyway, I'll stop ranting and let you wonderful people get on with your lives. Remember that I know I have the best readers and the best fans out there. Thanks for reading and reviewing. 


	6. Chapter 6: Bruised

All right, it's time to update the story. I know that there's not that much suspense because you all know that she lives because the story takes place in the past. The important thing is that this is what brings them together, right? He thinks that she could die, and she probably could have. Anyway, glad that you're still enjoying this and I hope it's answering some of the questions you had before I started this. Here you go!

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Chapter 6: Bruised

Yuan rushed into the camp with Storm limp in his arms. The rest of the troops would hopefully be back soon, and Magnius would most likely escape. Yuan didn't really care at the moment, all of his attention was to Storm. He was careful not to move any of the arrows in her back, afraid that if he did she would bleed more than she already was. The large gash in her back was bleeding pretty badly and Yuan could feel that it was soaking through his own clothing.

He ran to the one of the infirmary tents and called someone from his medical staff. Yuan had been using some of his healing techniques on Storm as he carried her to the camp, but he was never really great at the healing arts. That was always Martel and Mithos' speciality. Kratos had learned how to use it a little as well when he used the Aionis when he joined Cruxis, but Yuan didn't have any exceptional, nature talents with healing. He really wished that he did as he saw the injured Storm in his arms. There wasn't much he could do but bring her back to camp and pray that she would be okay.

"She's been injured really badly and she needs help right away," Yuan told one of the nurses frantically. They took a quick look at her and saw that she was indeed in a great deal of danger.

"Bring her inside," they told him as Yuan walked into one of the tents with Storm in his arms. They put a blanket down and had him place her on her stomach on it. She was completely unconscious and didn't make a sound as he placed her on the blanket. Two of the workers looked at their leader as he stared down at Storm.

"You'll have to leave while we work on her. We'll let you know when we're done," they told him. Yuan looked up at them in surprise before nodding as he allowed them the room to work as he stepped outside.

Yuan didn't stray too far as he sat down outside of the tent as he waited anxiously to hear about her condition. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her. He knew that Magnius wanted to kill her off more than anyone, except Lloyd, and that he distracted everyone else so he could get a clean shot at her. With his archers ready, there was no way that Storm could have possibly beaten him.

"Sir?" one of his soldiers asked him as Yuan snapped out of thought and looked up. Most of the troops were coming back, a lot of them needing their own medical treatment. It was a good thing he brought along a lot of medical officers. Yuan looked at the man and realized that he was looking at him strangely.

"What's wrong?" Yuan asked him questioningly.

"Are you all right sir, you're bleeding," the soldier pointed out. Yuan looked down and saw the blood that was soaked all over the front of his shirt and armor. It only made him remember Storm's condition even more as he looked at her blood all over him.

"I'm completely fine, you should be more worried about Storm. What happened back there?" Yuan told him before attempting to switch subjects.

"He escaped for now. We don't know where he went to, but we can find him," the soldier informed him. Yuan nodded before the soldier began to walk back towards the others. He stopped short before turning around slightly.

"We'll all pray for Storm," he said quietly before returning to the others.

Yuan sighed loudly as he went back to sit down across from the tent while he waited. He knew he was worried about Storm and he had a right to be. After all, she could have died then and there, and there was still a possibility that she wouldn't make it. There was something about the feelings he was having that made it different than if he was worried for someone else's safety. He pushed aside those feelings, blaming it on the fact that he had watched her grow up for so long that he couldn't picture her not being around. There wasn't anything else to it.

Finally, after a few hours, one of the doctors came out of the tent. He looked exhausted as he looked to Yuan. Yuan saw him come out and jumped to his feet to find out how she was.

"How did it go? Is she going to be all right?" Yuan asked him, anxiously awaiting the news.

"She should be okay, but she needs her rest for awhile. She still hasn't woken up, and when she does she'll probably be pretty sore. She lost quite a bit of blood so it'll be awhile before she's up again. Besides, we want to make sure her wounds heal and that she doesn't get anything infected. So, there will be no fighting or traveling for awhile for her," the doctor told him. He knew how his leader was and figured that he would want to leave her there while they went and searched for Magnius.

"Well, then I suppose we let her rest. We'll look for Magnius when she's well again," Yuan told him. This shocked the doctor, but relieved him that someone other than his nurses would be around to care for her.

"Very well sir," the doctor said as he went off to the next place to help one of the other soldiers that had been wounded in battle. Yuan stopped him before he left though.

"Can I go in and see her?" he asked him cautiously.

"Yes, but like I said she's not awake yet," the doctor told him before he continued on his way.

Yuan walked into the tent slowly to see how she was doing. There were two female nurses inside cleaning up around the tent from after the procedure. There were three arrows sitting on the floor not too far from where Storm was. He couldn't believe that she had been hit by three of the four archer's arrows, then there was the slice in her back from Magnius.

Yuan looked down at Storm's sleeping form. She was still on her stomach and she was bandaged from under her arms down to her waist. He could see that her bandages were becoming soaked from blood and he knew that the nurses would have to change them soon. He knew that they wouldn't let him inside when they did that so he knew his time was short.

"I'm sorry Storm..." Yuan said quietly as he looked down at her. He wished that he could have done more to keep it from happening to her, but he could only make it up to her at this point.

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Yuan was watching Storm again. It had been two days since the battle and he wondered if she would be waking up soon. He sat next to her whenever he wasn't working with some of the other soldiers. He really wanted to make sure that she actually did wake up. He had been waiting there awhile that day and was getting ready to go back to his own tent for awhile when suddenly he heard a soft moan.

Yuan's head snapped up at the noise and he looked over at Storm, whose face was away from him. He wasn't sure if he had actually heard the noise or not, but soon saw that her arms moved shakily next to her.

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Storm opened her eyes slowly as she tried to figure out where she was and what had happened. As soon as she opened her eyes she felt a small amount of pain flowing through her back. It was then that she remembered what had happened, and she realized that she had managed to survive it all. The last thing she remembered was being carried by Yuan before she blacked out. She tried to sit up as she placed her hands next to her attempting to lift herself up. Her arms were pretty shaky as she pushed up weakly. It was then that she felt the pain rip up and down her back. She flinched and whimpered a little at the unexpected surge of pain before she set herself back down.

"Try not to move, you'll hurt yourself worse," Yuan told her in a voice that she wasn't too used to. He sounded like he was concerned about her. She didn't want his sympathy and she didn't want to be immobile at all. She attempted to get up once again, but failed at it once again.

"I told you not to move. You're so stubborn, can't you tell that you need to rest," Yuan yelled at her. He was past concern and worry and had moved on to irritated and upset.

"I'm fine, I've been through worse," she said stubbornly as she managed to move herself so she could at least look at him. She glared at him angrily, not wanting to be told what to do.

"I really doubt that you've ever been injured this badly. Why don't you just listen and rest?" he asked her angrily.

"I have been through worse, but you wouldn't understand that anyway," she told him. "I don't need sympathy and I don't need everyone sitting around waiting for me to get better," Storm said as she managed to push herself through the pain as she sat up. She could barely hold herself in a sitting position, but was too stubborn to let him know that. "I'm fine, see?" she said as she winced a little.

"Oh yeah, you're completely back to normal," Yuan said sarcastically. "Lay back down and get your rest. You can barely sit up," he yelled at her in as much of a stubborn tone as she had given him.

She growled a little under her breath as she slowly eased herself back to the ground. She sighed loudly as she pulled her blanket closer to her head and turned away from him again.

"Fine, are you happy?" she spat at him angrily.

"I am," he answered her. He looked at her in silence for a few moments before he asked the question that she had brought to his mind. "When were you ever injured badly?" he asked her.

"You can't tell me that you never saw what they did to me?" she asked him. It was rough for her to admit these kind of things to people, but she knew that she could trust Yuan. He had saved her life and she had known him almost her entire life. He deserved to know.

"What who did to you?" he asked, obviously confused by her question.

"Pronyma and Mithos. The way they always taught me when I was little. Believe me, I think I'll make it through this. I've been beaten pretty badly and never had any medical attention. Occasionally Mithos would use some healing on me just to keep me alive, but I usually had to move through it all," she said sadly, still facing away from him. She didn't want him to see her face. "Of course, I've never been shot by that many arrows before," she said giving a small, fake chuckle.

"Why didn't you ever tell me or your father?" he asked her sadly as he looked down at her.

"Why would I? There was nothing I could do, and most of the time it was for things I deserved," she told him.

"There is nothing that you could have done that would make you deserve something like that!" Yuan yelled at her, completely shocked that she would ever believe such lies. There was nothing that someone could do to deserve such torture, especially not a child.

"I'm sorry that I brought it up," Storm said softly. "I shouldn't have said anything, forgive me," she said.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked her. "I wasn't mad at you, I'm upset with Mithos. He thought that he could do something like that to you. I suppose it was to get rid of your emotions. I should be apologizing Storm, I never saw it and tried to stop it," he told her.

"I'll be fine," she said in almost a whisper. She didn't want him to see how the tears were welling up in her eyes. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, not even Zelos.

After a few moments of silent after her statement, Yuan decided to leave her alone. "I'll come by later and check up on you," he told her.

"Thank you Yuan," Storm said quietly before she heard him leave.

Yuan walked through the camp, still upset with what Storm had told him. He couldn't believe that both he and Kratos had missed the fact that she was being tortured and beaten on a daily basis in Cruxis. She was bruised and battered in more than one way now. He felt so useless at that moment. There wasn't much he could do for her either way.

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Well, that's the end of this chapter. Wow, it's longer than I thought it would be. I hope it was good. So, yes, there will be more talking, angst, romance stuff in the following chapters, but the action will be back before the story's over. Anyway, tell me what you thought and review! Thanks! 


	7. Chapter 7: Determined

Okay, it's time to update this story. Sorry it's taking awhile to update already but I've been packing and getting ready to leave. Well, I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Determined

Yuan had come to visit Storm again. She was beginning to get better, but she still couldn't stand up too easily on her own. It had only been two days since she had woken up, and even with the apple gels and doctor treatments she was receiving she still needed to rest.

When Yuan walked in Storm looked over at him and smiled softly. He was almost always there with her keeping her company. If he wasn't working with the troops then he'd be with her trying to make sure she didn't become too lonely. He had been questioning her a lot about her hidden past, but she was still a little hesitant to tell him anything more than she had the other day.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, knowing he'd get the same response he got every time he asked her.

"Much better. Don't worry, I'll be up very soon, then we can get Magnius," she told him happily. He knew by now that she was lying, he could tell she was still in pain when she moved.

"Well, you need to rest until then," he told her as he sat down next to where she was laying. Storm rolled her eyes at him, getting tired of him telling her to rest all the time. She hated being the one that was keeping them from finding Magnius.

"You know, we can at least go to where he's supposedly at, then he can't get away again," she offered.

Yuan shook his head at her. "If we go after him, we'll have to make you travel and I can't allow that in the condition you're in," he told her. He was beginning to grow tired of her stubborn attitude so he decided to change the subject. "So...does Zelos treat you well? Does he know about your past?" Yuan asked her. Storm's eyes got huge for a moment when she heard his questions but she soon showed a soft side. Yuan could see the pain in her eyes at the mention of her past again.

"Zelos is great to me, and he does know everything about my past. He knows more than anyone else," she told him. Yuan stared down at the ground when he found out that she had tod Zelos things that she had never revealed to her father or him.

_"Why should I expect her to tell me something like this. She has no reason to tell me anyway," _Yuan thought when he realized that he was wishing she would tell him more. Perhaps he wanted to know more about her because he wanted to protect and comfort her.

"Would you like to tell me? I promise I won't tell Kratos or anyone else anything you don't want me to," Yuan offered her, being a little gentle on the subject. Storm snapped her gaze at him, wondering why he was so obsessive over her past. Of course, she could partly understand why. It was something that he was around for, but he was never aware of her abuse going on. He should have expected that Pronyma and Mithos would have done something like that, but she had always tried to hide her pain. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him, she did want some comfort, but she hated asking for it.

"Well, I suppose..." she said quietly before she attempted to sit up. She flinched a little at the pain, but pushed herself through it. Yuan tried to help support her as she got up, but she refused the help. She finally managed to find a spot sitting up that didn't cause her too much pain in her back as she looked over at him. "What did you want to know?" she asked him, looking over at him to await his answer.

"Well, what did they say to you to make you think that you're not worth anything?" he asked her, he wanted to assure her that they were all wrong. Storm was afraid that he would ask her something like that, but she went ahead and told him anyway.

"Pronyma always used to tell me that I was never good enough for anyone, that no one would ever love me because I was too weak. Both her and Mithos always told me that my parents never wanted me. They told me that Dad was just caught up in lust with Mom. They told me that Dad would never fall in love with a human because all the humans on the two worlds were evil. I was just a mistake and Dad was stuck with me after Mom died," she said as she stared at the ground to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

Yuan was furious with what Mithos and Pronyma had done. He knew damn well that Kratos loved Anna as well as Lloyd and Storm. They had wanted a family, but they had a hard time finding a place to stay for a long time because they were constantly being followed by Mithos and Kvar. He shifted himself in front of Storm as he gently wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't you ever believe any of the lies that they told you. You father loved Anna so much and they wanted to have a family together. They were thrilled to have you and Lloyd, in fact, I don't know if he would have survived if you wouldn't have been around after Anna died. If he would have lost all three of you, it would have killed him. We were all barely able to keep him alive after that, but when he saw you I think it helped him make it through that rough time in his life. You are so important to everyone," he told her quietly as he pulled her closer.

Yuan was so gentle with Storm that she didn't feel any pain as he pulled her closer. This was the comfort that she had needed, the comfort that she was too afraid and stubborn to ask for. She almost didn't want it, but she didn't want to push him away either. She felt so safe and secure there with him. She knew that her parents loved her, but the pain that she had first felt when she heard it was coming back to her. She did know that when Pronyma told her that she was never good enough she was telling the truth.

Soon, it was time for Yuan to leave for the night as he helped Storm lay back down. He wished her a good night before leaving her tent. Storm laid on the ground as she thought about how she was feeling after what she had shared with him. She had known him for so long, but maybe there was more to them than she had actually thought. She knew that she could never feel for him in any other way than friends. She had Zelos and she loved him more than words could say, but then there was Yuan. He was confusing to her, the feelings she felt when he was around scared her and comforted her at the same time.

Soon, after she was sure that Yuan and the others were in their tents for the night, she lifted herself to a sitting position again.

"I will not be the reason that Magnius gets away and starts another Angelus Project," Storm said quietly to herself as she attempted to get to her feet. Her back was screaming, but she didn't care at that point. Finally, after a few minutes of failed attempts, she made it to her feet. She was pretty shaky at first, but she soon gained her balance. She was almost afraid to move, the pain was threatening to come back. Suddenly, she saw something that made her begin to walk, even through her pain.

Storm inched her way to the other side of the tent where her sword was resting. She finally made it to it, but stumbled a little when she attempted to reach over and pick it up. She caught herself quickly then went and grabbed her weapon. She began to test how well she could use it in her condition. She swung it around a few times before crying out when she felt one of her wounds rip back open. She fell to one knee as she felt the wound that Magnius had given her himself.

Yuan was trying his best to fall asleep in his tent as he thought about what Storm had told him. She must have trusted him at least a little to tell him about her past, but he only wished that he could have prevented it. He couldn't help but realize that he cared about deeper than he thought he did.

"Could I lo..." Yuan stopped when he heard Storm cry out in pain. He jumped up and ran to her tent, hoping that someone hadn't paid her a visit when she was still so weakened.

He rushed in and saw Storm not in her bed as he began to panic. He soon noticed that she was on the other side of the tent down on one knee with her sword in hand. He knew what she was doing as he ran over to her, seeing that she was bleeding once again. He grabbed her arm as he tried to help her up.

"I don't need any help, I'm fine," she snapped at him as she pulled her arm away. Yuan didn't listen as went to pick her up, carrying her back to her bed and laying her on her stomach.

"Don't you move Storm," he ordered her angrily as he walked out to get one of the nurses to help.

After the nurses stopped the bleeding on her back and bandaged her up once again, Yuan walked in to have a talk with her. When he walked in, Storm knew exactly what was coming as she faced away from him.

"Why were you trying to get up? I told you that you needed more rest," he asked her, still upset with her stunt.

"I didn't want to be the one that kept us here. Magnius could be out there with the plans for the Angelus Project and we're not stopping him," she replied harshly.

Yuan sighed, knowing that the idea of Magnius and the Angelus Project bothered her to no end. He knew that no matter what he told her she would never be satisfied with waiting until she was better. "Why won't you ever let me help you?" he asked her, changing the subject to something else that had been bothering her.

"Asking for help only makes me weaker. Besides, I can handle it on my own," she answered gruffly.

"Did Pronyma or Mithos tell you that too?" he asked her, becoming angry with her stubborn attitude once again.

"What does it matter, I'm weak and I''m trying to make myself less weak. I don't need anyone's help," she answered.

"Asking for help doesn't make you weak, but hiding from people does. You can't keep hiding your feelings and hiding from people who want to help you. It's not good for you," he told her gently. He didn't want to hurt her or upset her, he wanted to make her see that he wanted to help.

"I just can't...I'm sorry..."she replied. Yuan stared at her sadly with her reply. Perhaps there were some things that he would never be able to help her with or fix for her, but he would try his hardest to help her. He would continue to help her no matter what.

Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm sorry if it was bad because I don't think it turned out very well. Anyway, tell me what you thought and please review. Thanks again for all the reviews from the last chapter. Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8: Hidden Desires

Hi everyone. I figured I owed it to all of you to finally update this story. I am taking a break between studying and writing papers. College is going really well for everyone who cares. I like it, but it's a lot of work. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and here's the next chapter.

Chapter 8: Hidden Desires

Storm was finally beginning to heal, especially since someone was constantly watching her now, making sure she didn't get up and hurt herself. She was so stubborn that she couldn't be trusted to even allow herself time to heal and rest. Storm was getting very frustrated about her situation, and hated being forced to do something that she didn't want to. She didn't fight it though, and thought it best to heal quickly so someone would let her get up.

Finally, about a week and a half after her last incident the doctor came into the tent to talk with her. The rest of the troops were setting up for the night and fires were being built all over the camp. Yuan entered after the doctor with a smile on his face. Storm wasn't quite sure what they were doing there, but she was hoping that their expressions meant something good for her.

"What's going on?" she questioned them as they looked down at her.

"Now Storm, the doctor doesn't think you're ready to travel too far just yet, but he does think that you need to get up and move around some. You need to go out around the camp a little and get some fresh air," Yuan told her.

She couldn't believe it. She stared at the two of them in disbelief. She was so ready to get up and move around, to prove to them that she could travel. Then they could go and get Magnius. This was her chance.

Storm pushed up to get herself sitting up. She could tell that she was stiff after having laid down for so long, but it didn't hurt like it had before just to sit up. Yuan went down to lend her an arm for support, but she didn't even acknowledge his help as she managed to struggle her way to a standing position. She was going to show them that she was capable of getting around on her own.

Unfortunately, when she started walking her legs didn't want to work as well as she'd wished they would. After laying around for so long she discovered that her legs were very wobbly. She took a few steps forward, wanting to get outside to the fresh, night air. Suddenly, she lost her balance and began to fall backwards. She tried to catch herself, but she was going to be just a bit too late.

Just as soon as she realized that she was falling, she was suddenly stopped. She looked behind her and saw that Yuan was holding her. He had seen her wobbling and went behind her to make sure that she wouldn't hurt herself. Storm looked up at him with a look that even frightened Yuan a little. It was a mixture of surprised, shocked, and gratified, but there was something else there and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. There was some other emotion that she had that made that look different than anything he had seen from her.

Storm saw the look in Yuan's eyes and realized how she was looking at him. She blushed and put in an effort to get herself back up quickly. She turned away from him before she spoke to him, she really didn't want him to see her embarrassment.

"Thank you," she said softly. She didn't really know why she was so embarrassed, but there was something that she had felt when he caught her. It was an emotion she had never felt before with him around. Then, when she had looked at him, she thought she had seen something there too.

"You're welcome. Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" he asked her before looking over to the doctor with a worried expression.

"My wounds have healed, but I haven't been able to walk around for awhile. I'll be right back in no time. My legs just aren't used to moving again," she said stubbornly, still facing away from him before slowly making her outside.

"It's true. Her wounds are almost healed, but you can still see the marks. They shouldn't hurt her at all, and they can't be reopened. She just has to move around awhile and get the strength in her legs back before she can travel," the doctor explained to Yuan who nodded before going after Storm.

He soon found Storm sitting outside of his own tent by the small fire that one of his men must have made. She was staring at it, and every once in awhile she would angrily throw a piece of stick into the flames. She didn't even look up when he sat down next to her.

"What's the matter? I mean, we let you get up and move around," he asked her staring at her as she threw in another piece of the stick that she tore off. She was silent for awhile, making the whole situation even tenser for Yuan. Finally, Yuan decided to remind her that he was still there. "Storm?" he asked her once again.

"I hate it!" she finally came out as she spun around to face him. "I hate being the reason that we're here. I hate always being the weak one, just like Pronyma and Mithos always told me. I shouldn't have come, I'm only holding everyone back," she said angrily.

Yuan had never seen her that upset before, and all he wanted to do was to comfort her. He knew that he cared for her very deeply, deeper than he had thought, but he knew that she would never care about him in the same way.

"You are not weak!" Yuan shouted at her, trying to snap her out of her spell. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes. There was so much pain buried beneath her that no one had ever found before, and no one probably ever would.

"If I'm not weak then why are we still waiting for me? I should be okay by now, but here we sit, day after day, waiting for me to heal. I'm sorry," she said, slowly calming down with each word. Yuan stared at her before he reached out and pulled her into an embrace. Storm's eyes grew wide as she felt his hands grab her shoulders as he pulled her close to him. She then felt his arms close around her as he pushed her closer to him, trying his best to protect her from whatever was bothering her. She soon felt her tense body relax as she melted into him, letting him hold her close.

Soon, he released his grip on her as she pulled back just a little to look up at him. Neither said anything, but they both noticed the look in each other's eyes. They both knew it was that emotion they were trying to bury with other feelings before.

Before she could say or do anything, Storm watched as Yuan's face grew closer to hers. Soon, his lips were mere inches away from hers.

"You are anything but weak," he whispered. She felt his breath on her lips as a chill ran down her spine. Suddenly, Yuan moved closer until their lips finally met. Storm was a little tense at first, but soon found herself melting into the kiss before she wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.

Yuan wasn't really expecting Storm to react the way she did. Maybe she did feel the same way about him as he did her. He pulled her closer as she moaned into his mouth. He smiled at this and deepened the kiss even further.

The two began to walk into Yuan's tent, never once breaking their kiss. Both of them were lost in the passion of the moment and were not reasoning about what they were doing. Perhaps it was love, or maybe it was lust, either way they were too caught in the moment to consider what they were getting themselves into.

Well, that's the end of that chapter. I hope I got the emotion here good. I don't know, I was thinking about other things in between writing this. I hope it's not too bad. Anyway, tell me what you think, and once again sorry for taking so long. Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9: The Morning After

Hi everybody! It's time to update this story I suppose. I suggest to everyone who is able to go to a big college. I don't care what other people tell you, it's awesome. I am at a very large university and it really doesn't feel that big once you get in there. Anyway, thought I'd say that, and that I am loving it here. Probably a big reason for why this doesn't get updated too often. Sorry... Anyway, here's your next chapter.

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Chapter 9: The Morning After

Storm woke up with the soft sounds of the birds chirping outside. She also felt someone next to her, their arms wrapped around her. Momentarily, she forgot about the night before and the fact that she wasn't back home. Her mind automatically registered the body next to her as her husband's. She smiled softly at the thought as she cuddled closer to the warmth that they were providing her.

Slowly she opened her eyes when she realized that she wasn't going to get back to sleep. When she opened her eyes she realized that she was not where she thought she was, and that she wasn't lying next to who she thought. That's when all of her memories from the night before came flooding back to her.

Storm sat up in a panic as she stared at the sleeping Yuan next to her. She tried to recollect why she had done what she did. She knew that she obviously felt something for him, but why did she let her feelings take her over? It's not that she didn't feel anything for him, or that what happened between the two meant nothing, it was just that she had no idea why she had actually acted on her feelings.

It was then that her thoughts switched from the night before to what would happen in the future. What would happen if Zelos found out? She didn't think she could take him leaving her. Sure, she had feelings for Yuan, but at this point there was no way that those feelings could compete with her feelings for Zelos. She knew that she had to get out of the tent and get out into the fresh air to think things over for awhile.

She gathered up her clothes and quietly put them on. She didn't want to wake Yuan, in fact, at this point she didn't really want to face him period. It was a little too soon, and the whole situation was a little awkward for her.

She took her first steps into the fresh morning air. She breathed it in deeply, letting the smell of the fresh dew take over her senses. Everything was so peaceful outside yet. The sun had barely risen above the horizon and the troops hadn't woken up yet. She walked into the woods where she knew there was a small stream. She felt the morning sun on her back, and the dew tickle her feet as she left the clearing to go into the forest. She wished that her life was as simple and peaceful as that moment. Unfortunately, she knew that it had never been, and now it probably never would be.

She soon found a small log sitting close to the bank of the stream as she sat on it, listening to the birds chirping their playful morning songs. She stared at the small stream sadly as she went over all the things that happened that led up to the night before. She still couldn't believe that she would do something so reckless. Not only that, but she couldn't believe that Yuan was the one to initiate it. She knew that what she had done was wrong, but for some reason it felt so right to be with him and she couldn't seem to shake him out of her thoughts. There was something deeper between the two than what happened last night, and she knew it too.

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Yuan woke up slowly as he searched around for the person that was supposed to be cuddled up next to him. He opened one eye and looked over to see that Storm was gone. He grew worried and wondered where she could have un off to. She wasn't ready to travel too far, and knowing her she probably had tried to run after Magnius by herself. He grabbed his clothes and changed into them quickly before dashing out of the tent.

Yuan looked around the campsite and saw that none of his men were up yet, and decided to see if she had moved to her own tent. When he got there he realized that her tent was completely empty as his heart began to race a little faster. He wandered to the only other place that he thought she could be as he headed toward the nearby stream.

He made his way into the woods as he searched for the small stream. Finally, he got the small clearing by the stream and saw Storm sitting on a small log next to the bank. It was a beautiful sight for the half-elf as he saw Storm slowly turn her head to look at him. She looked so innocent and vulnerable as her hair gently swayed in the breeze. The dew on the grass around her sparkled in the morning sunlight. He couldn't help but be left speechless.

"Yuan..." Storm said calmly, but also sadly. Yuan couldn't quite understand what she was feeling at that moment, but he hoped that she wasn't upset with him.

"Storm...about last night..." Yuan tried, but he just couldn't stand the look on her face. When he brought up the subject it only seemed to cause more pain in her expression. He didn't want to see her like that, it killed him to see her in more pain.

Storm turned to look at him when he didn't finish. "Yes?" she asked softly, waiting for him to answer.

"I'm sorry if I did anything to hurt you, but I want you to know that what happened last night was very heartfelt," Yuan began. He knew how he felt and he wanted to tell her. "Storm, I love you and there is nothing that I can do about that. If you reject me here now, I will still love you. I just can't help myself, but I can understand if you feel differently," he told her as he looked at her straight in the eyes, showing off every emotion that he felt for her at that moment. He didn't want her to doubt his feelings at all, and he knew that if she could see it in his eyes that she would believe it.

Storm looked at him longingly before she looked back at the ground sadly. "Yuan, you know why we can't be together, but I have to admit that...I love you too," she told him. "I love Zelos and I love you...I canc understand why you might get upset with me, but you know that I would never leave Zelos. I'm sorry," she told him as she stared hard at the ground.

Yuan looked at her, looked at the fear in her. The way she looked at the ground when she spoke, it made him really see the fears that Mithos and Pronyma had put into her at such a young age. He put his hand to her chin gently as he lifted it up so she would look him in the eyes. "I told you I'd love you even if you rejected me. You didn't reject me, but we can't be together so I still love you," he told her as he brought his lips to hers once again. The kiss wasn't too intense, but rather he just lightly kissed her on the lips before pulling away to look her in the eyes, his hand still on her chin.

"How are we going to work with this?" she asked him.

"Very tenderly. We wouldn't want anyone to find out, would we?" he said as he smirked at her before kissing her once again, this time with more passion.

Yuan brought Storm closer to him as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her to him. He placed his hands under her shirt and trailed his hands up her back. That's when he found something he wanted to forget. He could still feel her injuries. He could feel how big they were and how bad they were still after all this time. He pulled himself away from the kiss and rested his head on the top of hers. When he did this she leaned in closer to his chest.

"I'm sorry I let you get hurt. I could have lost you..." he said sadly as he gently moved his fingers over her wounds.

"It was my own fault. Please don't blame yourself," she told him as she wrapped her arms around him. They stood like that for awhile before Yuan finally pried her away from him.

" I think the troops are waking up, perhaps we should get back to camp," Yuan told her.

"Yeah, I think that would probably be a good idea, they're all going to be coming to this stream soon anyway," Storm agreed with him as they walked back. Yuan and Storm holding hands until they got too close to where people could see them.

A few more days of rest and Storm would be ready to fight again, until then, the two had plenty to do and say.

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Well, that's it for this chapter. I really hope you liked it. I hope it had the little sparkle that it needed. I don't know, it's 11:30pm here and I hope that it wasn't too bad. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter and I hope you all review for this chapter as well. Thanks for reading, now go and review!


	10. Chapter 10: Sneaking Out

Hi everyone. I am so excited because I get to go home tonight! It's 12:30 here and I get ready for my three and a half hour long ride home in 3 hours. It's so exciting. Anyway, enough with my life I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter and I hope my late updating hasn't driven everyone away. I'm sorry, but I am trying my best, but studying and papers can really get a person down. So, on with the next chapter. Enjoy

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Chapter 10: Sneaking Out

Yuan woke up, he could hear the crickets still chirping outside and knew that it was still dark out. He looked over and saw Storm in a deep sleep. He got up and went over to change. He moved silently as he attempted to not wake her up. He didn't want her to know where he was going. He had finally thought things over and he decided that he was going to get the troops together to leave for the ranch. He couldn't have Storm come along. Sure, she was healthy and her doctor agreed that she was well enough to go into battle again, but he didn't want her anywhere near Magnius. He apparently wanted to seriously hurt and he wouldn't put her in danger again.

Of course, he knew that if he had just casually told her this she would never agree, and would more than likely sneak off herself. He knew better than to tell her, she was too stubborn to just stay behind and watch everyone walk away. He would have to be sneakier than that.

He got out into the crisp night air and went to go and carefully wake up the rest of the troops. He woke up some of his lead men and had them go around and wake everyone else up, warning them to be as silent as possible. They all knew that he had been planning this and now it was a matter of pulling it off.

After that task was completed Yuan went to a few of his men and some of the nurses who were planning on staying behind. He knew they wouldn't like what he was going to tell them, but someone had to have the job.

"Okay, we're leaving I need you all to keep Storm here. Do not let her come to the battle, do you understand me?" Yuan asked very intensely to get his point across.

"Yes sir, but how do you expect us to do that?" one of them asked him cautiously.

"I don't care, but don't let her leave," Yuan ordered them again before turning back to his troops who were ready to leave.

The group of people left behind all looked at each other as after Yuan was out of sight. Finally one of them said what was on all of the other's minds.

"There is no way that she's going to listen to us," he said. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

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Storm woke up slowly to the sun barely shining through a crack in the tent. She squinted one eye open and looked into the light, not sure if she should get up yet or not. She didn't hear anyone moving around outside and assumed that everyone was still asleep. She rolled over and realized that Yuan was gone. She sat up and stared at the empty spot next to her, wondering where he could have run off to. She was in her own tent, but that didn't prevent Yuan from coming over and visiting that night. She began to wonder if he had gone back into his own tent before everyone woke up.

Storm got herself ready and went to go and find Yuan. She stepped into the fresh, cool morning air and walked over to his tent. She opened it up and found that it too was empty. She began to worry and soon went over to some of his officers tents, and once again they were empty. She was alone and had no idea where everyone else was. This was a very frustrating situation and she didn't like the idea of being abandoned. She went to the next place she could think where someone would be.

She made her way to the creek, but it was completely abandoned save for the little animals that were waking up themselves. She sat down on the same log she had a few days before and sighed deeply, not knowing where everyone was and giving up on finding them.

"There you are," someone said behind her. Storm spun around quickly and looked at one of the nurses. "I was wondering where you ran off to."

"What's going on? Where did everyone go?" Storm asked as she stared at the nurse.

"They all left this morning before the sun rose. They went to Magnius' fortress. Yuan gave the troops orders to leave and to prepare for battle," she explained to her.

Storm stood up and stared at the nurse angrily with the information. "What! I thought I was well enough to go when we decided to go. Yuan never said that we were leaving. Why am I staying here when there is a battle with him going on?" Storm asked still fuming, making the nurse a little nervous about having to be the messenger for the news.

"Well...he didn't want you to go even though you're well enough according to the doctor. I'm sorry, but those were his orders. You were to stay here while they left," the nurse informed her meekly.

"That jerk, I can't believe that he would do this to me. First, he makes me wait here with him and makes me feel like I'm holding them back. Now that I'm healthy and ready to go, now he decides that he doesn't need me to go," Storm ranted until finally she sat back on the log, completely frustrated with the whole ordeal.

Storm sat in silence for a few moments, quietly thinking over everything. The nurse just watched her as she waited to see what she would do. Finally, Storm got up and walk back to the camp angrily. She walked past the nurse who turned and looked at her walk away.

"What are you going to do?" she asked her.

"I am going to go and find them and fight Magnius," she spat, bitterness coursing through her voice.

"You...you can't do that. Yuan gave me orders to keep you here and I have to fulfill his wishes or else," the nurse said in a panic as she ran up behind Storm.

Storm stopped in her tracks, but didn't even turn to look at the young woman. "You'll be fine. I'll be sure that Yuan does not punish you, trust me. If anyone's going to get punished around here it'll be him for leaving me behind," Storm said as she continued to walk back to the camp to get her things.

Storm shoved her way past a few other people who were left to make sure she didn't leave as she went into her tent. She changed into her other clothes, the blood and holes where the arrows had gotten her still there. She couldn't see herself fighting in anything else, and she didn't have anymore clothes like it. It was one of her Cruxis outfits, it fit her perfectly for fighting, allowing her to move much easier. It looked a little like her father's Judgement outfit except it was lavender instead of white. She grabbed her sword and placed it in its sheath before leaving.

"I'll teach him for leaving me behind," Storm growled as she left the camp.

Once she was gone a few of the people who were supposed to keep her at camp breathed a sigh of relief. The one nurse looked at a few of the others before smiling a bit. "Well, that went better than I thought it would. At least she didn't cast that nasty Judgement on us," she said as the others laughed a little.

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Well, that's it for this chapter. Yes, Storm is very upset if you couldn't tell. Man, I can't wait until my next story. It is bound to be the most controversial thing I've ever written for you guys and I can't wait. Although, I might have a change of heart when I get around to writing it. Anyway, thanks for the reviews for the last chapter and I hope you liked this one as well. Thanks, and please review! 


	11. Chapter 11: Definitely Upset

Well, it's time to update. Yay! Anyway, we're getting close to the end of this story too. I'm excited because then I can start my new story. I think it'll be good, but I don't know what the reaction will be. If you couldn't tell yet, I'm a little nervous about it. Well, anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Thanks for the reviews from the last chapter and enjoy this next one!

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Chapter 11: Definitely Upset 

Storm stomped across the field. She could see the army in the distance, ready to attack the Iselia ranch where Magnius was hiding. She growled a little under her breath at the thought of Yuan leaving her. They really were going to attack the ranch, and leave her behind. She began to make her way through the soldiers, all of which watched her as she angrily made her way to the front of the line where Yuan was. He was apparently working on finishing up his attack plan and was too engrossed in that to even notice Storm fuming beside him.

Suddenly, Yuan noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head slowly to see Storm hovering over at him, giving him a traditional Aurion death glare, but even more intensified. Yuan's eyes grew wide as he stared at Storm, speechless at her sudden presence.

"Storm, what are you doing here? I thought I told them to make you stay back?" he asked her both in shock and in anger.

"Yeah, you did and they tried, but I wasn't going to actually listen to that stupid order," Storm yelled at him angrily.

"You really shouldn't be here," Yuan told her as he finally turned to actually look at her.

"And just why not!" Storm yelled at him, glaring at him intensely. He could definitely tell that he had made her very angry, and he wasn't really liking her anger being geared towards him.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else," Yuan sighed when he realized that a bunch of his soldiers were listening in on their conversation. He moved towards them all. "Okay, your group leaders are going to go over the plan with you. When I return we will leave to attack," he announced to his small army.

Storm stared at Yuan, not quite knowing what it was he wanted to tell her. Why did he want to be away from everyone else. She watched as he began to walk towards a grove of trees. Finally, he stopped and looked back at her, waiting for her to follow him. She snapped out of her trance and quickly caught up with him as they went inside.

"So why can't I come along with you? We waited all this time for me to get better and now I can't even go along? I held us up for nothing!" she shouted at him angrily as she stomped her foot in front of him and got right into his face. Yuan sighed, he knew how bad her temper was, she had inherited it from her father, not to mention that she was as stubborn as her mother. He knew that she would never back down and he respected her for it.

"I couldn't let you go...I couldn't risk it," he said softly.

"What are you talking about? You know that I'd fight against him. Don't tell me that you don't trust me now, like everyone else," she said sadly as she backed off a little bit.

"No, that's not what I mean..." Yuan became very quiet as he looked to the ground, unsure of what he wanted to say. "I was afraid...I was afraid that I would lose you," he finished very softly, almost in a whisper.

"What?" Storm asked him just as softly, she couldn't believe what he was telling her. "Why would you lose me? I won't make the same mistake twice. It takes a lot more than an attack from Magnius to kill me," she finished in a very cocky tone, mostly to make him feel more confident about letting her fight.

"Storm, you and I both know that you almost did die at the last battle," Yuan sighed heavily. Storm looked to the ground at this response. She knew that he was right, but she just didn't want to admit to herself. She didn't want him thinking she was weak and couldn't defend herself. That killed her more than anything. "I was afraid that you would be gone forever. And now...I can't bear to see someone else I love die," he told her.

This statement hit Storm where it hurt. He loved her enough to even compare her to Martel, and she knew that meant something. She knew that she would never be as good for him as Martel had been, but he did care about her as well. She walked up to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I made you worry, but I can do this now," she said softly with enough confidence in her voice to get her point across to him.

Yuan looked from the ground back to Storm when he felt her hand on his shoulder. He didn't say a word as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. He brought his lips closer to hers until finally they met. Storm wrapped her arms underneath his and brought them up to his shoulders as she melted into him. She felt so secure and comforted in his arms, it was as if he was protecting her from the world as he embraced her. His kiss took all of her worries away and she felt like she was in a state of bliss.

They finally parted as they stared at each other. Finally, Yuan decided to break the silence between them. "So, will you consider going back?" he asked her once more.

Storm looked at him angrily before giving him her answer. "Do I have to give you the death glare again for you to get the point?" she asked him.

"No, I can only handle that in small amounts. The Aurion death glare makes me nervous," he laughed and she giggled in response.

They finally made their way back to the camp where the soldiers were ready to attack. They all looked at the two, awaiting their next orders. Yuan looked at them and gave them a nod to signal that they were ready to go ahead with the plans. Yuan looked over at Storm who looked like she had something on her mind.

Storm looked over to Yuan. "I only ask one thing," she stated, receiving a very confused look from Yuan. "I want to go after Magnius. I have a score to settle with him now," she told him as she grabbed the hilt of her sword from just thinking about fighting him.

Yuan looked at her with concern in his eyes, but he knew better than to stand in her way. "I'm going too, I want to make sure he pays for what he did to you," he told her. Storm looked up at him and smiled at his reply.

"All right, let's move out!" Yuan yelled as the soldiers began to run towards the Iselia ranch.

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Well, that's the end of this chapter. I know it was short, but I wanted to stop before the fight. I want that to be its own chapter. Anyway, tell me what you think. Thanks for reading, and please remember to review. 


	12. Chapter 12: Won't Give In Now

I am sorry for the really late update, but I was busy with schoolwork and studying once again. College is fun and all but all the work really isn't. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this story. Just a few more chapters and then on to the next story. I'm excited. Well, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 12: Won't Give In Now

Storm and Yuan ran towards the front of the group as the army charged the ranch. They were ready for whatever their opponents had for them. Fortunately, the enemy was not expecting them at all and they were thrown off guard. A few of the Desian soldiers noticed the group coming in the distance and immediately began calling for reinforcements. Before too long, Magnius came out of the ranch and saw Yuan and his soldiers coming towards them. He smirked a little before calling out his orders to his troops.

Storm pulled her sword from her sheath as she and Yuan grew closer to the opposing army. Once she was about fifty yards or so from the first of the soldiers she stopped and released her Double Demon Fang attack as it flew at the army, knocking a few of the soldiers out of her path.

Yuan was sure to stay as close to her as he could, he didn't want the same thing to happen to her this time like it had before. She was handling herself pretty well, but soon he noticed that she and everyone else in the area stopped fighting and looked at something in the near distance.

There, standing before them all, was Magnius with a smile on his face. Storm glared at him, apparently wanting to tear him apart limb by limb. Magnius noticed her stares and looked down at her and chuckled a little.

"My, you're still alive?" he laughed. "I knew I had the honor to fight Yuan, but it looks like little Storm is alive," he said. "I can take care of that little problem though," he said as he came a little closer. Storm only had to fight through a few more soldiers before she made it to him. Yuan didn't like how easy Magnius was making this for her and he wondered if something was up, but he didn't know what.

Storm sliced through a few more soldiers that tried to get in her way. She was focused on her target and she wasn't going to let them stop her from reaching Magnius. She had come too far and fought too hard to give up now. She looked up as she rushed through, seeing the smirk on Magnius' face as she threw her sword into another Desian.

"That's it...come closer Storm," Magnius whispered under his breath as he watched her charging through the group.

"Lightning Blade!" Yuan cried out as he knocked out three guards that were trying to surround him, knocking them all to the ground. He tried to catch up with Storm who was chasing after Magnius with a fury in her eyes.

"Tiger Blade!" Storm yelled out as she barreled into two soldiers, the first one she connected with knocking out the person behind her as well. Storm glared at Magnius as she noticed that there were no more soldiers between him and her. She saw the look on his face and wondered if there was something she needed to watch for. She began to focus more on her surroundings as she finally made it to him.

"You came a little late Storm. I found the plans for the Angelus Project, now all I have to do is find some human to use it on," Magnius laughed.

"Just because you found it doesn't mean that you've won just yet," Storm growled at him as she tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword as he laughed at the idea of creating a new Angelus Project.

"Did Yuan tell you that?" Magnius asked her. Storm cocked her head in confusion at his statement. She didn't quite know what he was talking about. Magnius used this moment to take his large axe and swing it at her. Storm noticed his attack and pulled up her sword and barely managed to block the attack. He pushed up against in her sword and stared her in the eyes.

"Why don't you stick to your own kind?" he snarled at her before throwing her off his axe. Storm slid backwards a few feet, but didn't come forward after the shock of him figuring out her and Yuan's relationship.

"What makes you think it's anything like that?" she asked him, her voice not quite as confident as usual.

Magnius took a step forward, a bit agitated at her question. "Oh, as if I couldn't see that little spark between the two of you. It makes me sick. First you barge into Cruxis and get Mithos to like you without doing anything. Do you know how hard it is for any of us to get that attention from him? You come in as a two year old and have more respect from him than any of us ever did you worthless human," Magnius began, his voice searing with rage.

"It's not like I really wanted to go into Cruxis anyway!" she yelled back at him.

"Apparently not. You did go and kill the one person who took you in. You just prove that all humans are alike. Now you're with Yuan, another half-elf. Are you going to murder him too when you have no more use of him?" Magnius asked, getting closer with almost every word.

"No! I would never do that! You don't understand why I did what I did and I wouldn't expect someone like you to ever understand that," she yelled back defensively, her confidence and strength diminishing very rapidly.

"Storm, don't listen to him!" Yuan yelled at her from a distance. He could see that Magnius was saying something to her and backing her up in a corner. She was beginning to give in to whatever he was saying and Yuan wanted to pull her back before he hurt her again.

Storm stopped when she heard Yuan call out to her. That's when she began to think more about what Magnius was saying. Why did she care what he thought about her and Yuan? She knew that he was wrong and, in fact, neither her nor Yuan actually expected anyone to understand their relationship aside from themselves. It was then that she heard what she feared would come eventually.

Storm heard bows being pulled back, from where she didn't know. She knew that Magnius was trying to pull the same stunt again on her. He knew that he would have to distract her to do it though, but she was smarter than that for him.

"Storm!" Yuan cried as he realized what was going on. At the same time, three archers appeared and let their arrows fly at Storm.

Storm quickly released her wings and the next few seconds seem to be more like minutes. She watched as she jumped up and flew above Magnius as the arrows flew to where she had been. She watched as Magnius watched her go up and as his face changed when he realized that she had outsmarted him and set his arrows against him. Soon, Magnius was hit with all three arrows that were originally intended for Storm.

The battlefield went silent as Storm flew next to Magnius who had been hit twice in the chest and had a definitely fatal wound to his neck. He dropped to his knees, eyes wide as he looked over at Storm.

"How...?" Magnius chocked out before he finally dropped to the ground dead.

With this Yuan immediately pulled out his wings to attack the archers before they could attack Storm again. Storm decided to help out some of the other soldiers as she flew over to the main battlefield to use her Outburst attack to knock a bunch of Desians out at a time. With Magnius gone the fight began to go a lot easier as the Desians began to lose hope.

Finally, after defeating some more Desians and capturing the rest that surrendered themselves to the Renegades, Storm and Yuan finally reunited on the battlefield.

Storm ran up to Yuan who immediately pulled her into a tight embrace. He acted like he had been deprived of her for years rather than only a few hours. She could feel as he began to crush her before she made a few grunting noises so he would get the point.

"I was afraid it was going to end up like last time. I thought this time you wouldn't be so lucky though," Yuan said as he looked down at her.

"I told you I wouldn't let him get the better of me," Storm assured him with a smile.

"What about the Angelus Project?" Yuan asked her, suddenly remembering that that was exactly what he was after in the first place.

"Magnius had it on him. It looks like we got to him just in time, before he managed to hide it on us," she said as she held up a disc for him to see. "But I think I know how I want to get rid of this," she told him as she waved in front of his face.

"How's that?" Yuan asked her.

"I think we need to have a bonfire. Let's camp out, just one more night," she said as she brought one of her arms around to his back.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Yuan said as he bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips. She smiled at this before they separated to go back to help the soldiers with gathering up their prisoners. It seemed as if their mission was coming to a close. What did this hold for their relationship? Neither really knew the answer to this question.

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Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope it didn't stink too bad. The next chapter will be the last for this story and it's time to start over with a new story. Yay! I really hope a lot of people review for the next story because there will be one point in it that I will need opinion and I need more opinions than what I normally get. But anyway, thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one too. Thanks, and until next time! Bye! 


	13. Chapter 13: Separation

Well, this is the last chapter for this story. Now, I can really start into the new story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this story, and as always thank you so much to everyone who supports me and my writing. I know that I can never say that enough to you guys, but thank you. So, I hope you enjoy the last chapter of this story and I hope you enjoy the new story too! Enjoy!

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Chapter 13: Separation

They both knew that it was coming eventually. They would both have to go back to what they had before. This wasn't too bad for Storm, she had Zelos after all. Yuan, on the other hand, had no one to comfort him and keep him company. All he had were the Renegades, but they couldn't give him the company that he needed. He was all right before he fell in love with Storm, he had accepted being alone. After being alone for so long, after losing Martel, he had come to accept his situation. But since she had been with him, it was back on his mind once again and it drove him insane. He didn't want her out of his life, not when he knew that she was out there for him to be with. He wanted to be with her, but he knew that he couldn't.

Storm was riding on the back of the Rheihard with Yuan as they flew over the landscape. She looked down and thought about what had happened over the last few weeks. She knew that she had Zelos back home, but she wasn't sure if she could go back to him and act as if nothing had happened. It was going to be hard, she knew that Yuan would be in her mind a lot. She couldn't be with him though and it hurt her. Of course, no matter how much she loved Yuan she couldn't deny that she loved Zelos immensely. Zelos always had her heart and nothing would change that, he was her first love after all. Yuan couldn't exactly compete with that, she would never leave Zelos.

Storm tightened her grip around Yuan a little more as she thought about all this. She was so confused with everything. She didn't know what was going to happen between them, if things would continue somehow or if it would all fall apart. She didn't want her relationship with Yuan to end, but she couldn't risk losing her relationship with Zelos too.

Soon, the rheihard began to descend as the two came up to Meltokio. Yuan got off first and helped Storm get off after him. Neither said anything to the other. The tension was thick between the two as they stood there, dreading to say goodbye. Finally, Storm decided to make the first move.

"Yuan...I really don't want to say goodbye..." she began, but was cut off quickly by Yuan.

"Then you don't have to. You don't have to leave me," he said quickly and eagerly.

"But you know that I have to. You know I love Zelos too," she said as she looked at him sadly, trying her hardest not to hurt his feelings too badly.

Yuan sighed a little and his sad expression came back to his face. It broke Storm's heart to see him so depressed, but there was nothing she could do. "So, does that mean it's over? I can't see you anymore?" he asked her.

"Well, maybe I can see you sometime. Maybe there can be some errand I need to run at the Renegade base. I won't be able to see you a lot though. Every once in awhile, that's all I can promise," she told him.

"I can handle that, and I'll be waiting until he come," he told her as he hugged her tightly.

As he held her she heard him whisper lightly in her ear. "I love you Storm."

She smiled a little at this before she made her reply. "I love you too Yuan."

After one last kiss it was time for Storm to make her way into the city. Yuan sat on the Rheihard as she walked away from him. She waved once before actually walking into the city. Yuan wanted to make sure she made it back as he followed after her. He watched her as she made her way along the streets as he fought against the stream of people in the road. He didn't want her to see him sneaking along behind her, but he had to watch her until she got back.

Finally, they came up to Storm's house. Storm stopped, seeing Zelos sitting outside on the porch. She smiled wildly and ran to him. Zelos jumped out of his seat when he saw her and he welcomed her with open arms as she ran to him. They held onto each other as if they were each other's lifeline. Finally, when they let go Storm and Zelos exchanged a few words that Yuan couldn't quite make out, but soon he saw their lips meet before they headed inside together.

Yuan hated it, seeing her happy with another man, but he knew that she loved Zelos and that Zelos loved her. He knew that she was in good hands with him and only hoped that she wouldn't forget about the relationship that they formed over the last few weeks. He would see her again, he would make sure that this wasn't the last time that they would feel love towards each other.

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Well, that's the end of the story. It's really short I know, don't hate me but I wanted to get it over with. I probably could have just added this at the end of the last chapter, but I wanted it by itself. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story, even though the ending is a little sad. But, we all know that they obviously don't lose feelings for each other. Anyway, hope you liked it and I hope you enjoy the upcoming story as well. Well, thanks for reading and please review. 


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